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Although it was originally intended as a symbol of peace and ecumenism, the tricolour is today seen by some Irish unionists as a symbol of Irish republicanism and the Irish Republican Army. Many other flags are suggested as the cross-border flag for Ireland. The flag of Northern Ireland (Ulster Banner) was used officially between 1953 and 1973.
Flag Date Use Description 1922–1973: Personal flag of the governor of Northern Ireland.: A Union Jack defaced with the coat of arms of Northern Ireland.: 1924–1972: The Ulster Banner, also known as the Ulster flag or the Red Hand of Ulster flag, was the flag of the Government of Northern Ireland between 1924 and 1972.
The Red Hand of Ulster (Irish: Lámh Dhearg Uladh) is a symbol used in heraldry [1] to denote the Irish province of Ulster and the Northern Uí Néill in particular. It has also been used however by other Irish clans across the island, including the ruling families of western Connacht (i.e. the O'Flahertys and MacHughs) and the chiefs of the Midlands (e.g. O'Daly, O'Kearney, etc.).
The flag, as a whole, is intended to symbolise the inclusion and hoped-for union of the people of different traditions on the island of Ireland, which is expressed in the Constitution as the entitlement of every person born in Ireland to be part of the independent Irish nation, regardless of ethnic origin, religion or political conviction.
The torse and crest were apparently little used even during the period of the Kingdom of Ireland. Unlike Scotland, Ireland did not reserve the right to bear a distinct coat of arms within the United Kingdom. The crest and torse are not employed by the Irish state today. Historically, the harp was frequently seen surmounted by a crown.
A distinctive feature of Irish heraldry is acceptance of the idea of clan arms, which belong to descendants, not necessarily of a determinate individual, but of an Irish clan or sept, the chieftain of which, under Irish law, was not necessarily a son of the previous chieftain but could be any member of the clan whose grandfather had held the position of chieftain (). [1]
A modern variant of the Starry Plough flag. Members of the socialist political party Éirígí carry facsimile-Starry Plough flags in Derry, January 2013. The Starry Plough banner (Irish: An Camchéachta – the bent plough) is a flag which was originally used by the Irish Citizen Army, a socialist Irish republican movement, and subsequently adopted by other Irish political organizations.
The Irish language has a vast treasury of written texts from many centuries and is divided by linguists into Old Irish from the 6th to 10th century, Middle Irish from the 10th to 13th century, Early Modern Irish until the 17th century, and the Modern Irish spoken today.